Printer-friendly versionSend to friendPDF version

"Don’t worry if you feel like you’re over the hill now. The landscape is different. We are removing the hill.” Marianne Williamson

Many of us who are older than 35 note that life is different for us than it was for women even just two short decades ago. We have more freedom (social and otherwise) to pursue passions, explore our unique interests and to honor our own life’s journey. We also seem healthier, more vibrant and quite honestly, younger. In Marianne Williamson’s book The Age of Miracles: Embracing the New Midlife she notes, The Longevity Factor by Lydia Bronte [says] “that we’ve added 15 years to our lives, but in the middle, not at the end.”

There are probably multiple factors that affect this phenomenon. We can guess that the availability and commonplaceness of a wide variety of youth yielding phenomenon such as world travel, advances in medicine, health, fitness and mental health services have helped to keep us young.

A lovely woman in her 50s who I met yesterday at a Chelsea Handler book signing suggested perhaps it was participating in life that was really keeping us young. While in line, I made several calls to my children and she assured me that they would be okay for an hour. I so appreciated the support of a woman, slightly my senior, who “got it” about the need for all of us to participate in life; perhaps especially from time to time with the frivolous, playful and seemingly unnecessary.

For those of us who embrace a spiritual, humanitarian or religious perspective, we might also notice the vibrancy we glean from making choices predicated on a life based on forgiveness, compassion and kindness. Fixating on unpleasant things that happened 20, 30 or even 40 years ago, once processed-if needed with a therapist, is aging.

Most of us would agree that we have more opportunity to actualize our lives than our foremothers ever did. If we dedicate our lives at midlife to helping each other, as well as younger women, we could help to make the world a better place for all of us. Let’s all make the most of these extra 15 years. What will you do with yours?

© Jeanine Marie Austin, Ph.D.
http://www.SimplyDivineSolutions.com
http://youtube.com/DrJeanine